By 1900, all Takahes were believed to be extinct. However, in 1948, some birds were discovered in an almost inaccessible valley on South Island, New Zealand. These birds are now identified as the other species: Porphyrio hochstetteri.
Takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri)
This unique flightless bird is roughly the size of a hen, making it the world's largest rail. It has a stocky body with stout red legs, and... More 12 Images 15 Videos ...
Takahe - Endemic Bird On The Brink of Extinction
The Takahe is a large member of the family Rallidae closely related to the Purple Gallinule.
The Rallidae present the very noteworthy woodhens, Ocydromus, and the takahe, Notornis, which is almost extinct.
In New Zealand, they range in size from the large flightless Takahe to the small marsh crake and include Weka and the Australasian coot.
They also have the only Takahe on the North Island, two males that are very visible and vocal, fantastic!!
They have a kaka feeding at 3:00, just a treat, but the birds love it. They have over 100 wild kaka now breeding there, what a lot of fun.
Relevant Web Resources: For more info, please visit the following websites: Endangered Species ... Takahe Trapping ... NZ Birds Gallery ... Nature
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Today we still have the Weka, Takahe, Lord Howe Woodhen and Inaccessible and Guam Rails (the later only really in captivity) but David Steadman of Florida Museum has estimated that most islands in the Pacific had an endemic rail, ...
The black coots are more adapted to open water than their relatives, and some other large species are called gallinules and swamphens. The largest of this group is the Takahe, at 65 cm (26 inches) and 2.7 kg (6 lbs).
 See also: Parakeet, Crake, Parrot, Quail, Falcon
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